Gothic line which runs 25 miles north of Leghorn to Pesaro on the
other side and follows the main crest of the Apennines.
The line has little depth and there is little in the way of concrete.
Including attacks on railway targets in Southern France and
Northern Italy Mediterranean aircraft made 1700 flights yesterday.
17 enemy planes were destroyed and we lost 20. In Russia the
new offensive in the North has been started by the 2nd Baltic Army.
In the centre the Russians were 15 miles from Vawkavysk.
The Germans now report the death of monsieur Herriot [?]
8 days after his 72nd birthday. The Minister of Fuel and Power
said we barely came through last season and had to draw
more reserves of coal.
6.24 end
14/7.1944 9.= am.
In Normandy American troops had last night cut 4 of the 9 roads
into St. Lô and were about a mile and a half from its outskirts
at one point. Other American forces were within 3 miles of
Périers. Little change is reported from the Caen area. A German
counterattack north of the town re-took two villages but
carried the enemy less than a mile forward. President Roosevelt
has expressed the hope that this will be the last 14th of July the French
will have to suffer under German domination. Brigadier General
Teddy Roosevelt son of the late President Theodore Roosevelt
has died in his tent in Normandy after a heart attack.
The Russians have completed the capture of Wilna and
liberated 250 more places in that region. They also gained
ground at other parts in their drive toward East Prussia
|